Fans made the World Cup unique

The last month has created a special bond between players and supporters drawn not from traditional heartlands, but from all over the world

Fans went through a gamut of emotions as they supported their team at the World Cup

W
ith the wind swirling and the rain pouring down, five minutes left and Ireland flailing helplessly near the Welsh line, the Irish crowd stood again and dragged up one final roar from their guts. The match was gone from their team, but they clung to the final moments of their World Cup like a relative who didn’t want to let go. Some of them had begun their day at the team hotel, waiting for them. The players didn’t hide away or look for a back door. They knew the story. They knew why many of them here. They knew what rugby was doing for a lot of them. This wasn’t a time for filtering emotion and reality from professional duty. These were their people. Their World Cup.

Defeat yesterday didn’t dilute what Ireland did for those that followed them, or what their followers did for them either. It wasn’t like